WASHINGTON _ CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Sunday that President Donald Trump would consider it "unacceptable" for North Korea to possess a nuclear-armed ballistic missile capable of striking the United States _ a development believed to be soon within Pyongyang's reach.
But the intelligence chief also said he saw no imminent threat of North Korea attacking the U.S. with a nuclear weapon, although he expected the rogue nation's missile program to continue despite international sanctions.
Pompeo said Trump had "made very clear that the United States finds it unacceptable for a rogue leader like Kim Jong Un to have the capacity of a ballistic missile with a warhead that is integrated and fully deliverable to the United States and hold America and the world at risk."
"He's simply not going to permit it to happen," he said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
In a separate interview on "Fox News Sunday," Pompeo was asked about the nature and degree of threat to the U.S. mainland in light of Kim's continuing drive to develop North Korea's missile and nuclear capacities.
"There's nothing imminent today," he said. "But make no mistake about it, the continuation _ the increased chance that there will be a nuclear missile in Denver _ is a very serious threat."
North Korea is thought to have developed a miniaturized warhead and a more advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, which would enhance its ability to deliver a nuclear attack on the U.S.
H.R. McMaster, the White House national security adviser, said Trump, who alarmed many with his incendiary remarks about North Korea over the past week, had not drawn any "red line" regarding Kim's nuclear program.
"The president doesn't draw red lines," McMaster said on NBC's "Meet the Press. "What he does is he asks us to make sure that we have viable options for him _ options that combine diplomatic, economic and military capabilities. And so that's what we've done."
Some former security and defense officials have said that Trump's rhetoric _ including a threat of "fire and fury" and an assertion days later that the U.S. military was "locked and loaded" in the face of North Korea's provocations _ have made a volatile situation worse.
After Trump's initial threat, North Korea threatened to target the tiny Pacific island of Guam, a U.S. territory that has large U.S. air and naval bases.
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta, on CBS, said Trump's language had "frankly created even greater tensions in that part of the world."
A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff concurred. Retired Adm. Michael Mullen, who served under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, said he was concerned by heated language from both Trump and the North Korean government. Kim has been largely silent lately.
Trump's rhetoric "eliminates maneuver space for him," Mullen said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "It looks like brinksmanship to me."
